A New Way of Life
by oldshowaddict2015
Summary: Not a c/o with Walking Dead but is an apocalypse story. About 7 to 8 months into the apocalypse, Rachel heads home to Lima where she learns things are safer there than in New York. She's alone, tired and hungry. Finding Finn and her friends is enough to lift her spirits somewhat, but not everything is as it seems. Sometimes, things are just too good to be true. T. R&R! No flames!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Takes place around season 4 of Glee. Prepare yourself. _There_ _will be character death_. Not only in this chapter but in the story throughout. And yes. Finn is alive. Hence why I made it season 4.

Chapter One

This was the norm.

At first, she didn't worry about anything at all. She was in an apartment. On one of the higher floors. It wasn't a big deal.

That was, until, someone close to her got bit.

He was in the hallway at the time, and when she heard him screaming her name, she knew it was bad.  
Even though shooting drew more, she got the gun she had been given by an elderly neighbor, who was now gone, and used it. She had never used a gun before, nor had she ever had one in her possession. But this time... This time it was personal.  
She shot and killed every single one of the monsters. Needless to say, though, it was too late for him. One bite mark on his arm, another on his neck, one on his side. The infection was already inside of him. It was already taking over.

She knelt down next to him. She remembered brushing the chocolate brown hair out of his face. She remembered the fear in his eyes. She remembered doing her best not to cry. She remembered failing.

"Oh, Kurt..." she whispered. "Kurt, I'm so sorry..."

She remembered pointing the gun to his head. Pulling the trigger. Looking away as the light in her friend's eyes died, his angelic voice to never be heard again.

She remembered sobbing uncontrollably until she couldn't cry anymore.

She remembered going back to her apartment, feeling as lonely as she did the day she got to New York. No Kurt. No Finn. Quinn. Santana. No one.

Rachel Berry had never felt as alone as she had that day.

And she was alone like that for months. She would cross days off on her calendar, doing her best to keep track. She couldn't bury Kurt—there was no land for her to dig in, and besides, with the amount of monsters and concrete out in New York City, well, that right there made it impossible. Plus, she had no resources in order _to_ bury someone. Since they had an apartment, the young woman never found it necessary to have a shovel.  
Now, she wished she did.

The sun had gone down over the city, and Rachel turned her battery radio on low. It really was her only contact to the outside world, what with New York being almost overrun. She was surprised she lasted this long. She raided other apartments that she was _sure_ were empty for supplies. Of course, that's when she had Kurt with her. Two people were better than one. Sadly, she couldn't do that anymore. At least, the way she saw it. If she did, it would almost be a death sentence. Go into an apartment alone, with no help? She had to be fucking _crazy_.

Putting her long brown hair up in a ponytail, Rachel listened to the radio silently, wanting to hear any news about Lima.

" _Cleveland is overrun. It is no longer safe. Get out of there as soon as possible if you can. Staying or going is nothing but a death sentence."_ The man spoke. The young woman bit her lip, leaning on her kitchen counter. She needed to get back to Lima. If it was overrun... She didn't know what she would do. She wouldn't be able to stand it, that's for sure.  
All of her friends were there, that she knew of. Santana had gone back about six months ago to see if she could find any survivors from Glee. As soon as she did, she would contact Rachel and Kurt through a local radio station. They wanted to go with her. It wasn't right for someone to face the horde alone.

"I can handle myself. Believe me." She had told them. "I'll kill them before they get anywhere close to me."

Kurt had been the most vocal, wanting to go with her. Rachel did too, though she knew someone had to stay back at the apartment just in case.  
She remembered Santana leaving under the cover of darkness, the car she had hotwired speeding down the deserted streets of New York City. She remembered Kurt pacing every day near that damn radio to hear any news. She remembered no news being reported about Ohio. And, though he had never been very religious, she remembered him praying.

" _From Lima, Ohio, it is stable. The town is blocked off with a large fence. There are many survivors._ " Rachel stared down at the radio, her heart beating a mile a minute. " _It is stable_ ," the male voice repeated. " _Now is your chance to come to safety if you're close by_."

She didn't care that the radio was still playing. Rachel made herself some food and grabbed her gun, making sure it was loaded. After that, she ran out of her apartment, not stopping until she reached a car. She fiddled with the handle for a moment before slamming her gun against the glass, making the car alarm sound. She backed up as she heard groaning around her.  
Rachel turned and looked, and at least five monsters had made their way from the shadows and towards her. Screaming, she reached her hand in through the hole in the window and unlocked the car, getting inside. She then looked for a key, hoping she wouldn't have to hotwire anything, before hearing a groan come from behind her. She stopped what she was doing and turned. A zombie, who was pinned back by the seatbelt, was reaching for her. It was a young boy, possibly around six years of age, and half of his face was gone. With shaking hands, Rachel raised her gun and shot the zombie in the head, killing it instantly. She screamed, shutting her eyes tightly and turning her head as she did so.

After a minute or so, she heard the groans get closer and closer to her. She had only a limited amount of bullets in her gun, and knew she'd have to get more soon. She couldn't go out there, shooting like a madman. That would be suicide. Rachel bit her lip. She'd have to hotwire this car and do it now, and then worry about the dead body in the back of the car later.  
She got on the floor of the car, yanking the wires and looking to see which one was what. After a minute or so of fiddling with the wires, she heard the engine start up. For the first time in months, she felt a grin widen across her face and got back up into the driver's seat. The closest zombie was about ten feet away, and wasn't backing down. She smirked at it, flipped it off, and began driving.

She was a woman on a mission, Rachel Berry was. And when she had her mind set on something, nothing was going to change it. Not even the flesh eating monsters that surrounded her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The hot sun beat down on the men's backs outside of McKinley High School. Finn Hudson stood up straight, leaning on the shovel a bit. He had been digging for hours, it seemed, and starting to feel the effects of long hours out in the hot sun. He was sweating like a mad man, and was red in the face from the workout.

"Hey." Finn looked up and saw Puck, who motioned to the shovel. "Want me to finish that up for you?"

Almost automatically, Finn shook his head. "No, I got it." He then continued to dig, getting out a large amount of dirt, careful not to get it on the body bag.

"Dude you're like... Really red in the face. You need a break."

"Yeah, well I'm not taking one. I have to get this done."

"Finn." Puck spoke, his voice stern. "Go sit down. I'll do it."

"It's my fault this happened. I'm doing it."

" _Finn_ —!"

" _She was my mother_!" Finn yelled, facing his friend. They stood there, staring at each other for a few minutes. The taller man quickly blinked away tears that threatened to come streaming down his face. "She was my mother..." he repeated, quieter this time. "I'll do it. It's fine. I'll be in there in a bit."

Knowing he couldn't say anything to change his mind, Puck simply nodded. "Alright." He said. "I'll have Ms. Pillsbury save you some food."

"Thanks." Finn gave a small, soft half smile and then resumed his digging. Puck then made his way back inside the school, his hands in his pockets. A few people looked up as he walked in that were scattered around the hall, talking amongst themselves, and Marley was the first to speak up.

"He's not coming in?"

"No. Not right now anyway. He's hell-bent on digging that grave." Puck cleared his throat. "Go tell Emma to save him some food."

Marley nodded, making her way to the cafeteria. Quinn, who was seated next to the doors, spoke up.

"We need to make those fences stronger around the town. If any more of those things get in... It'll be devastating."

"I know." Puck sat next to her. "We were lucky that it was only a few."

"Carol and Burt weren't. Kitty wasn't. Neither was Jake." Quinn looked at him. "We lost four people, Puck. And that's four too many."

"We were lucky it wasn't more." He sighed. "Burt was a big help on that fence, I don't know what we're going to do now."

"He came up with it."

"Yeah, exactly."

Quinn bit her lip. "Do you want me to help?"

"We need all the help we can get, but I don't want you out there. There's too many of them. They're about to break this whole fence down. You'd be in too much danger. You're safer in here."

"Puck..." Puck looked at the blonde seated next to him. She had determination on her face. In a normal situation, Puck would find that determination _extremely_ sexy. But with the world they're in now, he was scared it was going to get her killed. "Please. You said so yourself that you needed a lot of help."

"I know—"

"So I'm going to help with that fence whether you like it or not."

Knowing he couldn't argue with her, he just nodded his head. "Fine."

\/\/\/\/\/

Outside, on the north end of Lima, Sam, Santana and Will were working on the fence. It was a tedious job, but someone had to do it. And after losing Burt the night before, they needed it in prime condition at that moment. They couldn't risk another break in.

"You know..." Santana spoke up while adding yet another piece of wood to make the fence thicker. "If you would have told me in about a year of graduation that I would be stuck inside the school surrounded flesh eating monsters, I would've said you were an idiot."

This got a soft laugh from Will and Sam, who were doing similar jobs. Will, though, was on a ladder and Sam was about five or six feet away from them.

"Well, I'll tell you. It isn't exactly how I imagined my future, that's for sure." Will remarked. Santana smiled softly. She had gotten to Lima about six months back, and was almost overly excited to find everyone—at least, _almost_ everyone—still alive. After the first attack, though, she had stayed behind to help put a fence around the perimeter of the town. She meant to send a signal to Kurt and Rachel, but was too busy with the fence to do anything about it. Before she knew it, about six months had passed and the fence was about three-quarters of the way finished.  
When she had arrived, practically everyone was still alive, save for one of the newbies and Tina. She knew it was that Ryder kid, and could tell he meant a lot of the girl with the long brown hair, Marley.  
Either way, the Glee club and number of people inside Lima, Ohio was already dwindling. That's why Burt decided to put the fence up, and it helped a lot. They just needed to keep up with it.

Looking up, the young Latina woman noticed two guard posts on this side. Mike Chang in one and Jesse St. James in the other. When she had arrived, she was less than pleased that Jesse hadn't been ripped apart at this point in time, but kept her opinions to herself. It was hard for her to do that, but she didn't exactly want to risk getting kicked out. At the time, it was about a month into the apocalypse and she didn't know if anyone's views had changed or not. Now, she voiced it and didn't care. Back then she just wasn't sure.

"How we looking up there, Mike?" Sam asked. He then began hammering a nail into a board to keep it into place.

"All clear on this side." Mike's voice came from above.

"Clear over here." Jesse piped up.

"At least we have that going for us." Will muttered, continuing the repairs.


End file.
